Rsync is a free software utility for Unix-
and Linux-like
systems that copies files
and directories
from one host
to another.
Rsync is considered to be a lightweight application because file transfers are incremental --
after the initial full transfer, only bits in files that have been
changed are transferred. Rsynch is often used to provide offsite backups
by syncing data to a remote machine outside a firewall.
It is also used for mirroring
Web sites.
Rsync is available on most Linux distributions by default. It can be used to update whole directory trees and file systems
and can preserve soft links, hard links, file ownership, permissions, devices and times. Rsync
requires no special privileges to install and can use remote shell (RSH), secure shell (SSH) or direct sockets as the
transport.
See also: FTP, remote data backup,
differential
backup, incremental backup,
delta differencing,
cloud backup
This was last updated in April 2011
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